Simon B. Parker (1940–2006)

Simon B. Parker was a professor of Hebrew Bible at Boston University’s School of Theology. He taught at the university for 25 years. He died of a brain hemorrhage on April 29 at the age of 66.

Parker was an expert in Ugaritic literature and Hebrew inscriptions. He was the editor of the Society of Biblical Literature’s translation series and author of two books and scores of papers and articles.

Parker held degrees from the University of Manchester, Asbury Theological Seminary, and Johns Hopkins, where he received his Ph.D. He was popular with his students and with fellow parishioners at his church, where requests would come years in advance to have him as a mentor.

The Hebrew Bible interested him, he told the campus newspaper, because it was “the most inspiring religious text,” full of a “vast array of characters, good and bad, and the crises that they have to deal with.”

He is survived by his wife Sonia, two sons; Jonathan and Jeremy, a brother, and two grandsons.

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